HTC’s head of UK and Ireland, Phil Roberson spoke to Omio on the company’s One line of smartphones and what 2013 holds for the brand. Roberson was pretty specific in his comments that the “HTC One is the flagship device” for 2013. Roberson expanded on that by discussing the difficulty marketing both the HTC One X and S, where customers had to differentiate between two devices leading to some confusion.

“Last year we had the X and the S, where people had different personal preferences between the two…We just said, let’s just create one flagship device for this year”

When pressed for confirmation that there would not be any more flagship devices this year, Roberson responded in the affirmative. “No; this is The One.” Seriously, HTC, stop making me think of The Matrix. In our eyes, this is an incredibly smart move for HTC, assuming there aren’t as of yet unknown jumps in technology later this year as it provides HTC ample opportunity to concentrate their marketing strategy. A sole flagship device allows HTC to run a concentrated ad campaign and not focus on carrier specific devices as well as freeing manufacturing resources that can be devoted to marketing.

About David Beren

David is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of TmoNews.com. He considers himself a Jedi Knight, capable of leaping tall buildings in a single bound and a connoisseur of fine cell phones. He has been involved in the wireless industry since 2003 and has been known to swap out phones far too many times in any given year. Should you wish to contact him, you can do so: david@tmonews.com.

I highly doubt that HTC is going to only put out one flagship device for an entire year.

21stNow

HTC said that for 2012, they wanted to focus on quality, not quantity. Given that and what was said in the statement quoted above, it is believable that HTC could want to go this route for 2013.

However, I hope that this is not the case. I fully expected an HTC One+ later this year, similar to the One X and One X+ released last year. It seems weird that HTC would create a 5-inch phone in 2012, then release a 4.7-inch phone in 2013 and say “that’s all folks!”.

tonkotsu

yea um.. in addition to the one x, there was the dna, j butterfly, and one x+

so its highly likely they release and update just before the holidays

21stNow

I don’t understand your response. I mentioned the DNA (the 5-inch phone) and the One X+ in my post. I didn’t mention the J Butterfly because it didn’t come out in the US.

kk888

D DNA is the American (Verizon) variant of J Butterfly

Richard Yarrell

Plus you know my friends on Sprint don’t want to hear this B.S. They want their Evo and Htc better produce it or they are done in the android game.

Not feeling the home button all the way to the right. What were they thinkin? I would’ve been happy if they just kept the Droid DNA design with the dual speakers.

Richard Yarrell

Competitive yes the Htc One is very good. Very seriously doubt it will compete with the Galaxy S4. Samsung is android plain and simple.

squiddy20

He didn’t say anything about being “competitive” you moron. Learn to read.

theking_13

They’ll probably be something similar to the Note, or like a refresh similar to the One X+.

Chris

Strategy that has worked for Samsung? Uh…they advertise the S3 the most by far, but they also advertise the Note 2 a decent amount. And then they have a million other phones to choose from too.

This is a BOLD move by HTC…I mean how can you say that so early? What about the One X and then the One X+? They’re not gonna have an upgrade in 6+ months? Why not? I dunno what HTC is doing, I’m no business man, but I feel like they’re just aiming in the wrong direction with everything they’re doing…

TechHog

There’s a difference between only making one flagship and only making one phone. The Galaxy S series is clearly Samsung’s flagship, with the Note series being a different class of device.

qpinto

the HTC one X was only released on ATT, and so was the one X+…carrier exclusivity killed it for sales. sammy put it all across all options, and got nearly all the consumers as well.

Justin Plecko

Taking notes Nokia?!

QBeastly

that ship has already set sailed lol

DJ Lawless Oneâ„¢

It won’t be a flagship unless all carriers label it the same unlike the One X aka Evo 4G LTE and the One S aka the Droid Incredible 4G LTE

g2a5b0e

We’ve all heard this before. I’ll believe it in the beginning of 2014 when they haven’t dropped a One +, One II, or Omega One yet.

Nick Gonzalez

Omega One. I like that name.

g2a5b0e

Haha. I thought it was kinda clever. The True One? The Real One? The Only One?

asder24

We’re going to see the Next One, Another One, One More, and the very confusing One Two.

Nick Gonzalez

LMAO!

Rocco Gallo

no removable battery no SD card, and they took for ever to upgrade to JB, not sure if i can use them again, and its too bad because the phone looks awsome

turb0wned

It has a 2500mah battery and 64GB of storage stop your whining. You people try to find anything from ever phone that comes out to bitch and complain. Don’t like it? Go buy something else.

Nick Gonzalez

Bravo!!

loueradun

And how much will that battery cost to replace in 12-18 months when it starts to show its wear and the phone wont last through the day on a charge any longer? I like to buy a phone knowing that it has a potential to last a few years… I miss the old HTC that built superior hardware!

I’ll bravo that also as someone who switched from a G2 to a Galaxy Note 2. Loved my G2, but I don’t plan on looking back anytime soon.

Rocco Gallo

its not about the 64GB inside is about if i want to remove my SD card and quickly transfer my stuff to another phone or pc i cant, and about the battery you know as well as i do that most of us root the phone and many many times you need to remove the battery to reset the phone and such and the biggest issue the lack of updates its just sad.

MadJoe

Since the original Galaxy S, I’ve been able to hold the power button for about 10 seconds to hard-reboot pretty much any phone, and the One S, my current phone, is exactly the same way. So the battery pull issue is a non-issue. What is an issue is HTCs current lack of respect for the modding crowd. They say they’re “developer friendly” and then lock the bootloader and enable S-On making development difficult. I could live with the 64GB model if I knew development wasn’t going to be an issue, but because I know it will be, I think I’m waiting for the GS4.

qpinto

thats a huge issue imo. The whole S-Off madness is a piece of crap. It was a couple extra steps to do on my htc one s, but they put up a barrier to development. Until that is gone, no more HTC for me.

MadJoe

Going to buy something else is exactly what I will be doing. But not because of the SD card, or the battery (although those two did make the decision that much easier), but because HTC likes to lock bootloaders and make development difficult. That’s where they lost me as a customer.

tonkotsu

Um.. it has a 2300mah battery, and the 64gb will cost $100 more than the 32gb model… Why should i pay $100 more for only 32gb when I can buy a phone with a microsd slot and pay $60 for a 64gb microsd card?

The last line is the most damning, and is exactly what people will be doing.

theking_13

It works for Apple, why wouldn’t it work for HTC?

The iPhone is the most popular smartphone btw, and has never had an SD card slot.

tonkotsu

because apple is apple and htc is htc, htc is not apple and has done nothing to convince people that the experience will be the same across phones/carriers/updates/etc…….

SaintsMan

Loved previous htc models and micro sd option is a deal breaker for me and lots of users. To state the obvious, htc is not Apple. They will have more success copying Samsung devices and features. Sadly another HTC device I will pass on as HTC works its way into becoming the next Palm.

The best thing that Samsung did was make the same exact phone meaning the s3 for every carrier, meaning color,size, and shape. The worst thing htc did was come out with the One x and only give it to at&t hence the FAIL. lets hope the more manufactures start making the exact phone for every carrier would lead to not having to buy unlocked or carrier change just to get a specific model phone.

Whiskers

Dear HTC , please take this phone and specs and make a WP8 version of it.
You can call it HTC 8 or whatever , but offer another flagship WP8 phone instead of Android all the time.
If not screw you for not atleast giving us WP7 users our 7.8 update and leaving us hanging in the wind. Not everyone wants Android all the time and it would be nice to have another option..

g2a5b0e

It would be impossible to make a WP8 phone with these same specs at this point. WP8 doesn’t support the resolution or the chipset yet.

Whiskers

I guess my only option is this or a T-Mobile iphone on my next upgrade coming soon.
Atleast HTC could do is offer the beats audio and front facing speakers on their next WP8 build.

g2a5b0e

The HTC 8X is Beats Audio branded, but I agree about the front-facing speakers. They are boss & very aesthetically pleasing in my opinion. I hope they can output some serious sound & if so, I hope it starts to trend in the future.

Rick

I need to replace my Sensation 4G, and i was hoping to hold out until I saw the Tegra 4 phones and avoid buying something that won’t get an updated ROM in 18 months. Guess I can stop looking at HTC. Makes choosing Samsung much easier. Winning, NOT!

Mlynch01

Having one flagship will mean it will be more likely to get updates faster and supported longer because the development teams don’t have to spread there resources out over a large number of devices that need to get updated. This move looks to be a good one from HTC if they stick to it. The focus on one device means they will be focused on continually making it better as newer iterations of Android come out. IN THEORY AT LEAST. LOL

Rick

I respectfully disagree. One of the criteria for an update is probably popularity, but also RAM requirements, age on market (or put more bluntly life expectancy based on contract cycles), and new software requirements also factor in. A popular phone that is 20 months on the market is within sight of being replaced by those who want to upgrade on the 2 year cycle. If the new version of Android is reuqiiring more RAM (My Sensation 4G is in this boat with JB), ther maker is unlikely to put the effort in to shoehorn an update in, and the older the phone the less likely. Popularity is, I suspect, not the most important criteria UNLESS the phone is newly-released, and then it’s a matter of updates coinciding with phone marketing, which is the same as phone lifetime. Luck in those cases, where buying a phone knowing a new Android release is maybe 2 months away does make a hot new phone even more attractive ‘purchase’, while an older phone that gets left behind becomes an upgrade motivator. There is surprisingly little obvious motivaiton for makers to run out updates, and the users’ complaints are not a motivator, in my experience. The Sensation was reasonable popular, but HTC left them behind I think. Flagship or not, I suspect popularity is not reason #1.

Paul

There can be only one…”ONE”

cybersedan

I really hope HTC sticks to the plan this time, looks like they have a great phone here, as much as I’m anticipating the Galaxy S4, I want good competitive options so I have a real choice. Xperia Z sounds good as well, and the mysterious X phone is also in the back of my mind.

I’m not gonna get caught in that cycle of just waiting for the next Galaxy. Too sheepish!

i still dont’ want a windows phone live tile knockoff .. one live stream screen and one “regular screen” .. just weird. .. disappointed in HTC this round and for the first time, i’m looking at going Sammy.

Whiskers

But atleast they got the live tiles to look right .
And the WP tiles looks like a childs playbook setup with rainbow colors .

What they need to do is stopping making devices without a removable battery or microsd slot.

Fujitsujeff

I think this is a good move. There is only one IPhone a year and usually one Nexus phone a year. Put out one product across all carriers and focus your marketing efforts and software development on that one product.

Mr Tibs

They need to just go back to selling windows phones only. Android is clearly not for them..

TechHog

After what they did last year, I’ll believe it when I see it.

HTC_FTW

Only a few dorks care about SD cards and removable batteries. Just look at the iPhone’s success. HTC just needs to market the phone better.

Shawndh

I’m going to get this phone because it’s going to be the best phone on T-Mobile (and I like HTC), but I doubt it will do for HTC what it did for Samsung or Apple. After a year, their phones just don’t hold up like an iphone, I must admit, but their build quality is getting better than Samsung. HTC’s look good on the outside, but the inside is always plastic junk, poorly designed for serviceability. And now they have the nerve to make their flagship phones with a nonremovable battery. I can live with the built-in storage but their battery life is too short and they take too long to charge. I’m not seeing evidence that there will be a difference in those problem areas on this One.

nerdlust

Interesting move very smart move. When I bought my sensation it was already dated because amaze came out soon after. This will stop confusion and they can focus on software and marketing. Also I couldn’t even buy HTC one x on T-Mobile. One s is cool but it seem to similar to what I currently have. Now I can buy HTC flagship device if I choose which is awesome to have that choice.

this is better they need to think about normal people who just want a cool phone until they next upgrade or close to it because i had a problem when i bought the sensation the the new mytouch came out then the amaze then the one s

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